Death in the Spires

Death in the Spires (2024) by K.J. Charles is the third book of hers that I’ve read, and the first mystery. I really enjoyed it!

Set primarily at Oxford in 1895/ 1905, the lead character is Jeremy “Jem” Kite, a clerk who never finished his course of study after one of his group of friends was murdered during their senior year. Toby was a golden boy, likely heir to a marquess, friend to everyone, but someone–it had to be one of their friend group, “The Seven Wonders” who had stabbed him.

In the ten years since, Jem has just been getting by, left adrift when the group fell apart, as several of the friends had been accused but the murder was never solved. Along with Jem, someone else has not forgotten, because Jem, along with his supervisor, receive an anonymous letter accusing Jem of the murder! He knows that he didn’t do it, but he has to leave this post now, and so he decides that he’s going to find the rest of the group and solve the murder, as he believes it has ruined his life and any chance he has at happiness.

Charles goes back and forth in time, revealing just enough so that I couldn’t stop reading. We find that Jem was a scholarship student and disabled, with a limb difference known then as a club foot, and not of the upper class as most of Oxford was. Toby had been best friends with the sarcastic Nicky, who was the only one still at Oxford ten years later. Jem goes to visit Aaron, a black student who is now a doctor, and Hugo, now a member of parliament and part of a prominent shipping family. Toby’s twin sister, Ella, studied Chemistry, and her roommate, Prue, was a working-class woman who studied mathematics. Everyone made up The Seven Wonders, known for their charm and brilliance, and all were deeply affected by the murder of their friend. Could one of them have done it? They would have been the only ones who could have done it, Jem believes, and he interviews and investigates each in turn.

I loved the darkly academic and atmospheric setting of Oxford, the male/male romance subplot, the multicultural romance subplot, and the twisty nature of this story! There were so many secrets they were all keeping from each other, for people who were supposed to be friends! It was completely weight-neutral, with the added bonus of a disabled main character/ detective in Jem.